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A bushel of tomatoes


Dave the Cook

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Each summer we plant tomatoes.

Each summer the early ripeners fall prey to various varmints (no offense, Dean): squirrels, racoons and deer; the rest shrivel and waste away while we're on vacation.

This year, we staggered the planting (and put in extra plants), the deer and coons have disappeared or been finished off by automotive predators, the squirrels have apparently realized that tomatoes are not their thing, and we took vacation two weeks early.

I now have two dozen tomatoes on my counter, red and luscious. (At an average seven to eight ounces each, that's over 10 pounds.) There are another couple of dozen still on the vine that will be ready in the next five to seven days. Then the staggered planting will kick in, and we'll go through this again.

I am tempted to simply stand over the sink and slurp each of them down with a pinch of salt. But much as I love tomatoes, I suspect even that will get old. And it would leave me little time to feed the eG addiction.

So I'm looking for suggestions: good ways to use up large quantities of tomatoes, while preserving their homegrown qualities.

Dave Scantland
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dscantland@eGstaff.org
eG Ethics signatory

Eat more chicken skin.

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Batch of gazpacho for immediate consumption over the next few days. Cauldrons of tomato sauce for the freezer.

Katie M. Loeb
Booze Muse, Spiritual Advisor

Author: Shake, Stir, Pour:Fresh Homegrown Cocktails

Cheers!
Bartendrix,Intoxicologist, Beverage Consultant, Philadelphia, PA
Captain Liberty of the Good Varietals, Aphrodite of Alcohol

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A friend of mine has the same problem every year. He makes various tomato sauces and then freezes them or cans them. My favorite is a long cooked concentrated version that he learned from some Italian friend. I don't have a recipe but I think it is very simple and slow simmered. He puts it up in jars and processes it in the hot water canner. Then he has the basics to add whatever to when tomatoes are out of season.

That approach also gives you an excuse to buy a new toy.

http://ww2.williams-sonoma.com/cat/pip.cfm...82354&root=shop

Linda LaRose aka "fifi"

"Having spent most of my life searching for truth in the excitement of science, I am now in search of the perfectly seared foie gras without any sweet glop." Linda LaRose

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Tomato confit (from Chez Panisse). Slow roast the tomatoes in extra-virgin olive oil until soft. They say to roast with fresh basil, but usually don't do that. sometimes I throw in some garlic cloves too. It makes a great pasta sauce and freezes well too.

Another thing I've wanted to try but have had neither the patience nor volume to do is make tomato water. That's where you let tomatoes drain for a while collecting only the clear liquid which is supposed to be intensely flavored.

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I use tomato water every few weeks in the summer in a large number of dishes.

In a commercial kitchen, if one makes tomato concasse (skinning and seeding before dicing) fairly often, or even just seeds the tomatoes before making a tomato sauce, one can easily wind up with enough scrap to strain through for tomato water.

I use a chinois lined with a filter over a pot. But one can just collect the tomato guts in a cheesecloth, tie, and hang it over a bowl.

Examples:

Tomato water with vodka and a few drops of Chinese celery oil for an interesting Bloody Mary.

The same warmed with a bit of chiles for a nice soup to support grilled fish such as sable (black cod).

Chilled, spooned around a hollowed plum tomato filled with chevre cream or a buffalo mozz bocconcini.

Warmed, spooned over a few pieces of penne with julienned basil and a spoon of salmon roe for an amuse.

"I've caught you Richardson, stuffing spit-backs in your vile maw. 'Let tomorrow's omelets go empty,' is that your fucking attitude?" -E. B. Farnum

"Behold, I teach you the ubermunch. The ubermunch is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: the ubermunch shall be the meaning of the earth!" -Fritzy N.

"It's okay to like celery more than yogurt, but it's not okay to think that batter is yogurt."

Serving fine and fresh gratuitous comments since Oct 5 2001, 09:53 PM

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Thanks, everybody.

katie and fifi: I'm on board with the sauce; you think that simpler is better?

I'm always looking for an excuse to acquire a new toy, but I won't be allowed this one, since I broke the last one I had. I've since replaced it with a food mill, which does the same thing, but looks sufficiently different to have passed inspection. Maybe canning equipment will satisfy the toy urge?

soba: carmelizing sounds cool. What temperature, and do I use oil or sugar to help them along? Tomato jam is intriguing, too. Can you point me to a recipe?

Grant: I'd forgotten about confit; good idea. As for tomato water, what do I do with it once I've got it? (edit: I see Jinmyo has helped out here. Great ideas; thanks.)

elyse: you can come stand next to me at the sink. We can wipe the juice from each other's chins.

Edited by Dave the Cook (log)

Dave Scantland
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dscantland@eGstaff.org
eG Ethics signatory

Eat more chicken skin.

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I talked to my friend. He keeps his slow simmered sauce real simple. For a big dutch oven sized pot (he uses a big LeCreuset, a heavy pot is recommended) put enough olive oil in the bottom to cover. Then sizzle a couple of smashed garlic cloves for about 3 to 5 minutes or until fragrant. Remove the cloves and dump in the tomato pulp. (In fact, he does use a food mill.) Lower the heat and simmer slowly, no lid, until it is the concentration and consistency you like. The simple basic sauce is then frozen or canned for use later. A good reason to keep it simple is... who knows what you might want to add to it in December. You might even have some fresh herbs in pots.

I am not the best judge of tomatoes because I HATE them raw. Everyone else raves over his tomatoes and I will say that sauces I have had made from his preserved tomato sauce is damn good.

Canning toys are cheap. go ahead and get the kit that you can usually find in the grocery store somewhere around where you get the jars, lids and rings. The jar lifter and wide mouth funnel are worth it. I can't find my canning reference right now but there should be something that comes in the kit that will give you the processing times for tomato sauce.

Linda LaRose aka "fifi"

"Having spent most of my life searching for truth in the excitement of science, I am now in search of the perfectly seared foie gras without any sweet glop." Linda LaRose

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Dave:

I can't compete with Fifi's expertise and excellent post, so I'll just say that I will often simmer seeded and coasely chopped tomatoes that are similarly lightly seasoned with garlic, olive oil, and just a bit of herbs, S & P, and then I will leave some chunky and whirl some in the blender so I have both a pureed version and a chunkier version to grab out of the freezer for whatever I might wish to use it for in the future.

I just got a food mill myself, at a thrift store and am looking forward to using it. I'll be making one of those tri-color layered vegetable pates later this week and will probably try use it for the yellow tomato layer. Other layers will be spinach and carrot or mushroom. I can't decide on the final flavor. I think the mushroom will taste better, but the carrot will be more aesthetically pleasing. Any suggestions from anyone? :smile:

Katie M. Loeb
Booze Muse, Spiritual Advisor

Author: Shake, Stir, Pour:Fresh Homegrown Cocktails

Cheers!
Bartendrix,Intoxicologist, Beverage Consultant, Philadelphia, PA
Captain Liberty of the Good Varietals, Aphrodite of Alcohol

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soba: carmelizing sounds cool. What temperature, and do I use oil or sugar to help them along? Tomato jam is intriguing, too. Can you point me to a recipe?

Just last night, I oven dried a batch of very good South Jersey tomatoes. I cut the baseball size tomatoes in quarters, placed them skin side up on a non-stick half sheet pan, drizzled them generously with good olive oil, sprinkled them with sea salt and some dry oregano I bought in Palermo, placed them in a 225F convection oven, and baked them overnight for 8 hours. The concentrated tomato flavor is irresistible.

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That sounds absolutely delicious. And I am a t'mater hater. This kind of thing could inspire me to grow the damn things. :laugh:

I will be passing this along to my sister who has at least several bushels of tomatoes. Then I will proceed to appropriate some of the product for my own evil uses. (I like cooked 'maters ok.)

Linda LaRose aka "fifi"

"Having spent most of my life searching for truth in the excitement of science, I am now in search of the perfectly seared foie gras without any sweet glop." Linda LaRose

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I have the same problem with excess tomatos:

I make tomato base for pasta sauce and other uses in the winter.

You can just boil the tomatos, sieve, reduce, bottle, sterilise.

I rather like Elizabeth David's recipe (from Summer Cooking) - I've just made a batch.

I paraphrase, and halve the quantities, and have added garlic and sugar. Get the original, as her writing is wonderful

Tomato Sauce to store

8-9lbs tomatos

6 onions

2 cloves garlic

head of celery

2 carrots

8 oz butter ( a stick)

1/4 cup EVOO

salt, pepper, sugar

Chop the onion, celery and carrot. Heat the butter and the EVOO in a large pan and soften the chopped vegetables, until the onions turn yellow but do not let them brown. Add the tomatos and garlic, salt and pepper (about 1 Tbs salt), and 2Tbs sugar. Herbs if liked, but they reduce the uses of the finished puree. Add the tomatos, roughly cut up. Cook until the whole is reduce toa thick mass. Blend with a stick blender. Sieve. Reduce to desired consistency. Check seasoning. Bottle ( I use "Le Parfait" preserving jars - easy and elegant). Put the jars in a large pan up to their necks in water (Ms David reccomends standing them on newspaper, and putting newspaper between them), bring to the boil and simmer (Ms David says 3 hours, but HMSO advises 50 mins at 190C, or 15 mins in a pressure cooker). I boil for an hour. Cool label.

You can rpeserve by drying, but I don't use nearly as nuch dried tomato as tomato concasse.

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What about a chilled tomato soup?

"Some people see a sheet of seaweed and want to be wrapped in it. I want to see it around a piece of fish."-- William Grimes

"People are bastard-coated bastards, with bastard filling." - Dr. Cox on Scrubs

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I use tomato water every few weeks in the summer in a large number of dishes.

We're not worthy, we're not worthy. . . .

Not that Thomas Keller has anything on our Jinmyo, but I have an article by him about tomato water if anyone wants it.

Maybe I should buy extra tomatoes this week. . . . . . :hmmm:

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Shaker Tomato Jam (adapted fro, "The Best of Shaker Cooking")

4lbs tomatos

16 cups sugar

4 oranges

8 lemons

3 sticks cinnamon

Peel the tomatos. Add the grated rind and juice of the oranges and lemons [with the pith and pips in a muslin bag], and cinnamon sticks. Cook until thick. Add the sugar and boil rapidly until it gells on a cold plate. Remove the pips etc in the muslin bag. Remove the cinnamon. Pot into sterilised jars. Makes a bright pink confection.

JL notes: Tomatos are low in pectin and acid. The pectin here is being derived from oranges and lemons. You might like to add commercial pectin, and some citric acid, for a more reliable set.

Nero Wolfe's cookbook has an interesting recipe for Green Tomato Jam

Tomato Curd (adapted from"Farmhouse Fare," 1946)

1lb Tomatos

6 oz sugar

3 oz butter

1 lmon

2 eggs ( I use 4 egg yolks)

Stew the tomatos until tender. Sieve. Return the puree to the pan and add the sugar, butter and the grated rind and juice of the lemon. When the sugar has dissolved add the well beaten eggs, and cook over gentle heat until thick. Do not allow to boil. Pour into warmed pots and seal.

Will keep 2-3 months

Edited by jackal10 (log)
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That sounds absolutely delicious. And I am a t'mater hater. This kind of thing could inspire me to grow the damn things.  :laugh:

I will be passing this along to my sister who has at least several bushels of tomatoes. Then I will proceed to appropriate some of the product for my own evil uses. (I like cooked 'maters ok.)

Do you live near me??? :wub:

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I've never liked tomato soup, hot or cold. But since I've got a few to spare, maybe it's worth another try.

Otherwise, I'm leaning toward lots of basic sauce (Ms David seems like a good starting point, as always); some for caramelizing and snacking; and I might try a confit. Or the chutney. Unfortuantely, along the tomato water, it borders on the weird for my audience. I'll have to figure out some sleight of hand to present it.

On the other hand, that curd is really intriguing.

I've got quite a few green 'maters, too, and we've been doing lots of them as fried greens, especially with a blue cheese remoulade -- a great combination. Despite my recent public exploration of it with Maggie, I'd forgotten all about the Nero Wolfe book and its jam recipe. I'll have to check it out again.

Dave Scantland
Executive director
dscantland@eGstaff.org
eG Ethics signatory

Eat more chicken skin.

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Unfortuantely, along the tomato water, it borders on the weird for my audience. I'll have to figure out some sleight of hand to present it.

Dave, the bloodless Bloody Mary is good fun. Amaze your friends with it.

"I've caught you Richardson, stuffing spit-backs in your vile maw. 'Let tomorrow's omelets go empty,' is that your fucking attitude?" -E. B. Farnum

"Behold, I teach you the ubermunch. The ubermunch is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: the ubermunch shall be the meaning of the earth!" -Fritzy N.

"It's okay to like celery more than yogurt, but it's not okay to think that batter is yogurt."

Serving fine and fresh gratuitous comments since Oct 5 2001, 09:53 PM

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Unfortuantely, along the tomato water, it borders on the weird for my audience. I'll have to figure out some sleight of hand to present it.

Dave, the bloodless Bloody Mary is good fun. Amaze your friends with it.

Good idea. I'll spring it on them when they're hung over!

Dave Scantland
Executive director
dscantland@eGstaff.org
eG Ethics signatory

Eat more chicken skin.

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soba: carmelizing sounds cool. What temperature, and do I use oil or sugar to help them along? Tomato jam is intriguing, too. Can you point me to a recipe?

Dave: JosephB's method is one way to go. How long you bake them for and at what temperature depends on how much tomato flavor you want in the final product. Also, the seasonings can vary but the staples are usually EVOO, salt, pepper and a tiny bit of sugar or alternate sweetener. An interesting variation I sometimes use is garam masala in place of the pepper, and date sugar in place of the sugar. Try it with a mix of turmeric, ginger and cumin.

If you want the quick method, bake them in an oven for one hour at 300 degrees F, or until most of the liquid has evaporated and the edges of the tomatoes shrivel and begin to caramelize. Be sure to cover or generously brush the tomato slices with oil. Made this way, the tomatoes will keep in the refrigerator for about four to five days. Generally, the longer the roasting time, the lower the temperature and the more concentrated the flavor. You can roast them at 200 degrees F for 10 hours if you want, but at that point I think they'd best be served as a garnish or condiment as the flavor would be this side of overwhelming. :wink:

For a couple of recipes for tomato jam, click here, here or here (Note that I googled these.)

Soba

Edited by SobaAddict70 (log)
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Dave the C, if you haven't made Suvir's Tomato Chutney you have not lived.  In my house this is a staple.

Damn, Archie, Cathy got there first. There is no higher purpose for a tomato than to become a component of Suvir's Chutney.

Speaking of jealous, it will be a month before I see a red tomato; just small, hard green balls at the moment.

Margaret McArthur

"Take it easy, but take it."

Studs Terkel

1912-2008

A sensational tennis blog from freakyfrites

margaretmcarthur.com

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